The girl opened her eyes and found herself in a world of pure white.
Snow slowly drifted to the ground.
She tried to take in her surroundings, but all she saw was a world covered in endless white.
She couldn’t see so much as a figure or even a footprint.
The world around her had no scent, and she didn’t feel cold.
She soon realized that she must be dreaming.
But why?
She couldn’t remember ever going to sleep.
The last memory she could recall was…
The tenth floor. I went there with everyone else. And then Haruka cut me. It didn’t hurt, but I was really surprised. And then…
Her blurry memories gradually took form.
She had only been made to believe that Haruka cut her. The flash of her friend’s sword had been a bluff to rouse the beast of black lightning. It was no small feat for the sword master to manifest Keraunos with an illusion.
…Which means the one who brought me here was…
The girl realized that it could be none other than her own spirit.
She secretly hoped it had grown more docile during the two weeks it had spent sealed away. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
The ruse, which had seemed a little too real, had succeeded in fooling the spirit and had triggered Keraunos to manifest.
She supposed the malevolent spirit was baring its fangs at her beloved friends at that very moment. Supposedly punishing them for betraying its daughter.
A feeling of emptiness overcame her, the likes of which she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Thinking back, the malevolent spirit had always been this way. It always reacted violently, even though she wished it wouldn’t. And even when she begged it to stop, it would only continue its rampage.
It justified the violence by pretending it was for the sake of its daughter. But the truth was, it just did whatever horrible thing it pleased.
“You’re wrong, Jupiter. I only attack them to protect you.”
The deep bass voice vibrated the girl’s eardrums.
“Keraunos…”
How long had it been standing there? A singular black “smudge” sullying the pure white world around it.
It spoke to her in a gentle tone. “There is no need to worry. This world is safe. No one here will hurt you.”
“Why not take a look in the mirror? The one who hurts me most of all is you.”
“What a strange thing to say. I am your one and only ally. Your only true family. I would never do anything to harm you.”
The beast’s words awoke a terrible anger in the girl’s heart.
“Ally”? “Family”? All lies.
“But your rage always leads to people getting hurt.”
“My rage? Don’t you mean your rage?” admonished the black-lightning beast. “I simply play the role of the villain to protect you from the negative emotions that make you suffer. It would be patronizing to expect your gratitude, but I wish you would at least try to understand how much I do to keep you safe.”
She almost said, “That’s the very definition of patronizing.” But just as the words reached her throat, she swallowed them back down.
She may resent it, but there was a certain logic in Keraunos’s self-serving words.
“…You’re right. I’m the reason you appear in the first place. I won’t deny that. It’s my fault.”
The beast before her was a truly heinous monster. Its selfish fits of rage, which left nothing but devastation in their wake, were nothing short of horrific.
But the source of the beast’s tremendous power was the girl’s own heart. Anger, grief, sorrow, anguish, feelings of powerlessness and helplessness, jealousy, despair—the torrent of emotional stressors were what triggered Keraunos’s rampages.
Thus, the only way for the girl to stop the beast from running wild was to control her emotions. If she could stop herself from feeling stress, if she could maintain a positive attitude, then the beast of black lightning would no longer manifest.
Weapons, Astral Skills, any number of contrivances—they would never be enough. The only way to put a stop to this was for Jupiter to prevent herself from feeling hurt in the first place.
Holding back tears, the girl acknowledged that she was the source of all the problems her spirit caused. She couldn’t let her heart feel troubled, for even the slightest amount of stress would feed the beast.
She tried to calm the turbulent waves of emotion threatening to overtake her. She wanted to make things easier on her friends who were fighting back in the real world. All the while, the voice in her heart kept repeating, “Suppress your emotions. Keep your composure. That’s the only way to resist.”
“Huh?”
And then she saw them: countless orbs floating around the beast of black lightning. They were black and yet not. They resembled translucent soap bubbles, floating in midair. They were present physically, but they also seemed like part of the scenery.
“Those are…my memories.”
Jupiter’s understanding was subconscious. The orbs contained that which she had lost. They had all been sacrificed to feed the beast’s power.
“You must understand,” said Keraunos. “I don’t take your memories indiscriminately. I’ve only removed the ones that might cause you stress.”
“There are plenty of happy memories here, too.”
“Those, too, are problematic. Momentary happiness is quick to crumble, leaving nothing but misery in its wake. Think of what you did to the woman called Eliza. It nearly shattered you.”
You don’t get to say that, the girl thought. The one who hurt Eliza—who hurt everyone— That was both of us.
“Give them back.”
“You do not require them.”
“You don’t get to decide that for me.”
“I am the one who must control such things. This is the pact you forged with me, Jupiter… Though, I don’t suppose you remember that anymore.”
Blood seeped from the girl’s lips. I feel like all the horrible, pathetic, and angry feelings inside me are going to make me lose my mind.
I never realized…how much it’d stolen from me. My freedom. My memories. My safety. Everything. I’ve sacrificed everything to this beast that calls itself my father. And I accepted it willingly. But now I see how twisted this is. Now that I’ve lived with the Shimizu family and regained a dim glimmer of my past, I finally get it. I’m nothing but a pet. Keraunos has been keeping me as its pet this whole time.
“My weakness made you grow stronger. It was my own stupidity that led to everyone getting hurt.”
“My poor daughter. You have always been hated by those around you. But I, and I alone, am your ally. I have always been by your side, just as I am now. I will stay with you forever.”
There was no use in arguing. It would never listen. High-minded morality and logic meant nothing to the beast.
No matter what she said, the spirit would interpret it through its own twisted lens. In the end, its conclusion remained the same: “My poor daughter. I will protect you from it all.”
“Why am I so immature? Why is it so impossible for me to stop myself from feeling anger, sadness, and pain?”
“Please, dear daughter, I wish only for you to love yourself. The world out there—the world that loathes you—it is the true evil. The ones that make you feel sorrow are the enemy. I will never allow anyone or anything to harm your ailing heart. This I swear!”
Everything that came out of the beast’s mouth merely furthered its own agenda. The beast pretending to be the girl’s father was completely incapable of showing consideration for others. The only thing in its head was its twisted paternal desire to control its daughter. And the only responses it could muster were these sugarcoated lies that justified its violent impulses.
Their conversation was going nowhere. It was impossible for the girl to communicate her feelings to the spirit. And the spirit’s “love” for the girl would never tug at her heartstrings. Their exchange wasn’t a dialogue—it was two people speaking to brick walls. There could be no communication between them and no understanding reached.
“I’ve always hated you.”
“I will destroy those who have caused you harm.”
“I want you to leave me alone.”
“My poor, lonesome daughter. I alone will never abandon you.”
“You’re not…my family.”
“Our souls are bound by a pact. The ties between us are greater than a bond of blood. Do not compare me to the terrible parents who left you for dead. I am your true family.”
“……No. My real family is—”
A flash of jet-black lightning suddenly pierced the girl’s body.
“Ah! Ngh…!”
Jupiter fell to her knees and slumped forward.
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.
In that world bereft of hot and cold, the one thing the girl could feel was the pain riddling her body.
“What were you about to say?” The beast’s words sounded calm, but the air around them was steeped with tension. “You weren’t going to say that those impostors are your family, were you?”
“…And what if I was?”
Thunder and lightning. Black bolts rained mercilessly down on the girl.
“…Ngh… Guh…”
“It’s not good to lie, Jupiter. You’ve been deceived by those shallow traitors. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They may look and act the part, with their false smiles, but once you place your trust in them, they will betray you. My poor, sweet Jupiter. The people around you all have ulterior motives. Every one of them. The only one in this world who cares for you is me.”
“…Is that why you’re hurting me with this lightning? Because you care?”